THIS WEEK'S MUTUAL FUND STORIES

Mutual funds understandably trumpet top long-term performance, but those numbers may not reflect a current manager's achievements -- or shortcomings.

A manager who took over a portfolio two years ago, for example, can't rightfully lay claim to its five-year results. To really see what you're getting -- and getting into -- before buying a fund, match the record against the manager's tenure.

This week's lead story, "Buy the Manager or Buy the Fund?," suggests that while fund companies would like you to believe that investment portfolios and processes transcend the people in charge of them, buy and sell decisions ultimately succeed or fail based on individual talent.

Read about some managers who deserve credit, and several who don't. Then, check out the new funds from seniors' advocate AARP and meet the winner of our Stockpicker of the Quarter award. Plus, several stories look at the latest developments in exchange-traded funds, and Chuck Jaffe offers advice on ruling your investment roost, on this week's Mutual Funds page.

A fund's biggest asset isn't the top stock or bond holding. It's the manager.

Jonathan Burton, investments editor

Buy the manager or buy the fund?

A fund's record doesn't always speak for itself. Funds are ranked, rated and rewarded on the strength of returns over several years. But those numbers may not reflect what the current leadership has done. So what's more important -- the fund or the manager? See Mutual Understanding.

INVESTING STRATEGIES

Taking a strategic route to retirement

Most Americans aren't saving enough for their retirement needs, put off by a lack of money, initiative, or knowledge -- and sometimes all three. Now the largest advocacy group for the post-50 generation wants to make it easier for people of any age to have a bit more gold in their golden years. See FundWatch.

Stockpicker of the Quarter

The world may be getting smaller, but for Sean Taylor the investment opportunities are substantially larger. Taylor has explored stock markets around the globe for more than a decade, the past two years as manager of GAM International Equity Fund. See full story.

Legg Mason's Miller cool to commodities

Mutual-fund manager Bill Miller is steering investors from the hot commodities sector and suggesting they look instead to areas of the market that have underperformed. See full story.

Squaring the Cubes

First Trust Advisors LP on Tuesday continued to bolster its growing lineup of exchange-traded funds with new offerings tracking an equal-weighted Nasdaq-100 index, and technology stocks listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market Inc. See ETF Focus.

To have and to hold

Tom McIntyre of investment firm McIntyre, Freedman & Flynn sees good value in beaten-down, big-name stocks like General Electric and Pfizer - at least for investors with enough patience to hang on for at least five years. See Personal MarketWatch.

Sifting for 'relative strength

When describing his stock picking style, Neil Hennessy of the Hennessy Funds often speaks of "positive relative strength." The term refers to Hennessy's technique of running sets of qualitative filters on the entire U.S. universe of almost 10,000 companies, and then refining them further based on expected growth weighed against a stock's price-to-sales ratio. See The Stockpickers.

INDUSTRY INSIDER

ETFs break new ground

Exchange-traded funds already cover most investment sectors and styles, but providers are pushing the products into new niches and promoting them to financial advisers and 401(k) plan sponsors. See ETF Investing.

Bells ring for silver ETF

At long last, a silver exchange-traded fund that has been in the works for over a year is expected to begin trading. See ETF Focus

Split for a top ETF

A hot-performing exchange-traded fund tracking an equal-weighted S&P 500 index said it will split its shares 4-for-1, highlighting the strong run of smaller companies relative to large-caps. See full story.

Mutual fund buying at record in March

Investors poured record amounts of cash into mutual funds in March, research firm Lipper Inc. said, suggesting that strong consumer confidence is extending to the stock and bond markets. See full story.

COMMENTARY

Tax burden grows on fund holders

Most Americans are happy at this time of the year to think that they're done paying taxes for a while. But if 2005 was any indication, fund investors are only just beginning to pay Uncle Sam, and the damage is about to get a lot more noticeable. See Chuck Jaffe.

Rule your investment roost

When it comes to investing, there are few actual rules -- aside from legal and tax strictures -- and a lot of suggestions, proposals, theories and disciplines that ordinary folks can follow. The question every investor needs to wrestle with is which rules they want to adopt and which ones they want to ignore. See Chuck Jaffe

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